UK Times reports Supreme Court to decide 'what constitutes a woman' in November

[TanyaG]

UK Times reports Supreme Court to decide 'what constitutes a woman' in November

London Times Newspaper report
The Times - Frances Gibb
Oct 4 2024

EXCERPTS Below:  Click the NEWS LINK above for the London Times Newspaper report to view the entire article
What is a woman? This now highly controversial issue will be decided in November by the highest court in the land. Five senior judges will sit in the quiet, restrained atmosphere of Court One in the Supreme Court in Parliament Square, impervious to the placards and banners of any protesters outside.

The justices - three men and two women — will be led by Lord Reed of Allermuir, 68, president of the court and the UK's most senior judge. He is undaunted by the task. "When we hear cases ... we are not trying to decide what social policy ought to be. That's not our function. What we are trying to do, generally and in this particular case, is to interpret a particular statute or provision."

[Devlyn]

I got a pound/euro/dollar in the pool that says when the ruling comes through it won't be favourable to us, and it will contain religious language.

[TanyaG]

I got a pound/euro/dollar in the pool that says when the ruling comes through it won't be favourable to us, and it will contain religious language.

They are ruling on the law as it stands, so who knows what the outcome may be, but I'd be surprised if it contains religious language. In the UK the churches have steadily lost ground on LGBTQIA+ issues, and the separation of church and state in theory should stay the supreme court's hand. So we shall see. This is going to bring some folk out of the woodwork for sure though!

[Jessica_Rose]

The justices - three men and two women

Why do three men have any role in determining the guidelines which will be used to define a woman?

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[TanyaG]

Why do three men have any role in determining the guidelines which will be used to define a woman?

Because the panel is balanced as well as it can be between the sexes, believe it or not! The Supreme count consists of ten men and two women, so two was as many women as could be found to put on the tribunal. This could go any way because they are only looking at statute law but the one thing that goes in our favour here is that appointments to our supreme court are not political. Which doesn't stop it being overwhelmingly pale, male and stale

[TanyaG]

My opinion is that the law will no more decide 'what is a woman' than the law decided that slavery should end, or homosexuality should become accepted. These decisions were and will be taken in the court of public opinion and the law will ultimately fall into line with how people think, as it did in the past.

Hopefully, what we are seeing now are the last battles being fought as the rearguard of conservatism desperately tries to hold onto its ground. We last saw this happen in the UK with 'section 28' which was passed in 1988 and forbade local authorities from promoting homosexuality.

Section 28 was pushed through with enormous passion by government amid tremendous sturm und drang and the argument was that it would prevent young people being 'indoctrinated' to become gay. Even at the time a lot of heads were shaken at the idea anyone could believe this was credible, let alone possible.

Not one prosecution was successful brought and Section 28 was repealed in 2003. Even then, there was a conservative rearguard action to try and resurrect it, but in the end the Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron, ended up offering an apology to the gay rights movement in 2009. It was a historic moment but he was honest enough to face up to the fact that society had decided the law was wrong.

So if we keep our hands on the tiller and steer the path that transgender charts, chances are we will win the war. Maybe lose a few battles along the way, but if my nails get chipped in the fighting, a file is always available. I'm in this for everyone, whatever sex they were assigned at birth, where on the trans spectrum they lie, and whoever is discriminating against them. We hold our ground, together.